Spy Cat by Andrew Cope Page A

twiddling his spectacles nervously. ‘But, Mrs Cook,’ he stammered, ‘I wasn’t even in the country.’
    ‘She means this,’ said Ben, walking over to Shakespeare and fiddling with the flashing collar. ‘Your brilliant invention. It turned
Shakespeare from a normal moggie into a superhero.’
    Shakespeare purred louder and he tried to look heroic.
I’d better be careful or I’ll be wearing my pants on the outside next
, he thought.
I’ve got a very cool reputation to protect!
    ‘We think he accidentally discovered the collar,’ suggested Ben.
    The cat nodded.
    ‘And accidentally stowed away on our camping trip.’ All eyes fell on the cat.
    Kind of
, he thought, trying to shrug but finding it too painful.
More of a deliberate accident.
    ‘And there was an evil baddie,’ said Ollie, holding his hands and fingers out, like a bear.
    ‘Who turned out to be a woman,’ continued Sophie.
    ‘Slow down,’ said Professor Cortex, his face red and sweaty, still struggling to come to terms with the fact this was all his fault. ‘One at a time. Benjamin, please continue.’
    Ben took a breath and composed himself. ‘We camped, for my scout badge. With Mum and Dad nearby.’ He glanced at Lara. ‘It was a last-minute thing, old girl,’ he said. ‘And we weren’t anticipating an escaped prisoner.’
    ‘Jess,’ said Ollie, his eyes shining, doing the bear thing again.
    ‘That’s right,’ agreed Ben. ‘But there was a weird man who we
thought
was the escaped prisoner. He turned out to be a retired policeman who knew Jess had buried her treasure in one of the mines. But he wasn’t sure which one. Or where. So he was lurking. Once he knew she’d escaped, he knew she’d come looking for the loot.’
    ‘So even the goodie was a baddie,’ noted the professor, trying to keep up.
    ‘And somehow the man got trapped down a mine,’ said Sophie, a puzzled look on her face. ‘The police haven’t figured that bit out yet. His rope was cut.’
    Chewed actually
, remembered the cat.
But let’s not dwell on that.
    ‘So,’ said Ben, taking up the tale once more, ‘we ended up sharing a tent with the world’s most dangerous escapee. She said she’d phoned the police but she hadn’t. In fact she took the battery out of the phone so we were totally cut off.’
    Mum shuddered.
    ‘And, to cut a long story short, I ended up
down the mine, with the loot and a gun and
both
baddies.’ Ben paused for breath. ‘And, thankfully, a very special cat!’
    Professor Cortex fixed his spectacles back on to his face and peered at the injured cat. Sophie tickled Shakespeare’s tummy and he dared purr louder still.
    ‘We’re not exactly sure what puss got up to,’ admitted Sophie. ‘But there was a disturbance at a local house where a cat fell down a chimney.’
    That bit wasn’t my finest hour
, purred the puss.
    ‘And although the man said he knew the mines like the back of his hand, it was actually Jess who knew them like the back of her arms,’ piped up Ollie.
    ‘She had a treasure map tattooed all over her arms,’ explained Sophie to the open-mouthed professor. ‘And it ended up with this heroic puss stealing the cash and sending Jess down the mine in a carriage. The police found her. The carriage had smashed into a rock fall. She’s OK,’ said Sophie, ‘but was wandering around in the darkness in a bit of a daze. I think she was actually quite glad to be re-arrested and to see some daylight.’
    ‘And the stolen money?’ asked Professor
Cortex, pushing his spectacles back to the bridge of his nose. ‘The small matter of half a million pounds?’
    ‘Some of the notes were fluttering loose in the tunnels,’ said Ben. ‘But the rucksack of cash hasn’t been found. The authorities are sealing the mine for good. So I guess the money will stay down there forever.’
    Shakespeare wasn’t so sure. He was the only one who knew where the cash was stashed. He’d spent the last twenty-four hours thinking things